IIA. Related Applications
There are no prior patent applications relating hereto filed in this or any foreign country.
IIB. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to vehicular doors and more particularly to a secondary net-like safety covering, positionable inside the primary rigid door of a recreational vehicle to cover the doorway.
IIC. Description of Prior Art
In the use of recreational vehicles of various types an object or occupant may fall through a doorway that has been unexpectedly or accidentally opened. The results of this happening oftentimes are quite serious especially if the vehicle be in motion, and the potentiality for the happening is substantial especially during motion. The instant invention seeks to provide means to alleviate this problem.
The common present day recreational vehicle is of a generally rigid construction that provides hingably mounted doors for ingress and egress. By reason of the particular structure common to such vehicles, and also by reason of their operation and use, their rigidity is not absolute and there commonly is a substantial and generally constant motion of parts relative to each other. This motion becomes a particular problem with door structures as if oftentimes causes or allows doors to open accidentally and unpredictably notwithstanding various biasing and latching mechanisms associated with the door. Either the same motion that opens the door or further motion of the vehicle may cause or aid either a vehicle occupant or some object in the vehicle to accidentally pass outwardly through the open doorway or other similar orifice with serious consequences.
Both problems of people and objects passing outwardly from a recreational vehicle through an accidentally opened orifice have heretofore been recognized and various solutions proposed. In general the proposed solutions form a first class of devices which positionally maintains either the object or person in the vehicle by means of some sort of physical restraint and a second class which provides some sort of cover for orifices to prevent passage of either an object or person outwardly therethrough. It is with this second class of devices that the instant invention is concerned.
This second class of covers may for convenience of consideration be subdivided into a first group of rigid barriers and a second group of non-rigid, flexible or semi-flexible barriers. The rigid barriers heretofore known have generally been of the same general nature as the original primary door. If such a rigid structure be mounted by means of a hinge-latch type mounting this auxiliary structure generally suffers from substantially the same disabilities as the primary door structure and is subject to substantially the same potentiality of accidental opening. In fact, quite commonly the same forces that might cause a primary door to open have a reasonably high potential of causing a secondary rigid safety door to open simultaneously and thus really provide no solution to the primary problem. Most movable, fastenable door mountings that provide an opening convenience similar to the hinge-latch mounted door generally suffer from similar disabilities to a greater or lessor extent. As the mounting and releasable fastening of a rigid door becomes more certain or more substantial, the probability of the doors' opening generally becomes less but at the same time the convenience and ease of operation of the door also becomes less and less. Because of these problems rigid type secondary safety doors or barriers though known have not been popular or come into general public use.
The second group of flexible barriers by reason of their physical nature are not nearly so likely to be accidentally openable by reason of the normal operation of recreational vehicles. The opening and fastening of this type of flexible cover generally depends upon some principal quite different from that required for a hingably mounted, latch fastened rigid door and because of this there is not nearly so much probability that any force likely to open the primary rigid door is likely to open the secondary safety door. In fact in general the forces and motion required to open one type door are not particularly related to those required to open the other and there is almost no probability that one single force would accidentally open both. The flexible type barrier also tends to offer much more convenience in storage, operation and function and tends to be of lower cost than the rigid type barriers. Undoubtedly because of these factors the flexible, non-rigid or semi-rigid type safety barrier has not only become known but also become more popular than the rigid barrier. The instant invention seeks to provide a new and novel member of this class of device.
The non-rigid barriers of this type known in the prior art have generally been used in vehicle orifices other than doorways, principally windows or interior passageways such as between the living space and sleeping space of a trailer, the front seat and back seat of a stationwagon or the seat and cargo space of a van-type vehicle. These restraining devices have generally been of a relatively smaller aerial extent than one required to cover a doorway and because of this generally have taken the form of a net-type device without any particular fastening about any substantial part of the periphery of the particular device. The instant invention is distinguished from this type of barrier in that it does provide a positive fastening of the barrier around a substantial portion of the doorway to be covered and it has been found that this type of fastening is necessary for effective use of such a device to cover orifices that are as extensive as recreational vehicle doorways. The particular fastening means provided establishes a positive fastening on both sides and the top of the doorway to be covered. An auxiliary barrier of this nature must also be readily storable and yet easily and simply positionable for use. The instant invention provides a roller type storage for the net barrier immediately above the doorway or orifice to be serviced to fulfill this requirement and yet aid in allowing the fastening of the barrier about the orifice periphery as required. A particular channel and slide fastening mechanism associated with the sides of the barrier allow the simple and easy motion of the barrier from a stored to an operative position, but yet fulfill the fastening requirements. All of these features are uniquely combined in the instant invention to distinguish it from any of the known art in its class either individually or in combination.